Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi,

I just started to research the different ball python morphs. I've noticed a lot interesting morphs, including the Pastels.

Is the Pastel morph considered a co-dominant trait? Basically, if I was to breed a normal to a pastel, would any of the babies by Pastels? Or would you have to breed PastelXPastel to produce Pastels?

Please let me know....

Thanks,

Susan P.

Well.......first of, yes, Pastels are considered codominate, and are ball pythons first co-dom morph.

When something is co dominate, when you breed it
(ie. Pastel, lesser platty, mojave, spider) to a normal half of the resulting offspring will show that particular trait.

its pretty easy...and tons of fun.

AND, you still have the DOUBLE co-dom morphs (ie. bumble spider)

it gets funner!!!!!

Mike

Hi,

Does anyone know if the normal siblings within a Pastel litter carry the co-dominant trait?

If I was to breed a normal siblingXnormal sibling (of pastels) would I get pastels?

What about a normal siblingXregular ball python?

Sorry if these questions sound ignorant, but I'm not familiar with the normal siblings turn-out

Peter F.

Nope, no pastels will be produced from breeding normal pastel siblings.

Think of pastel as het for super pastel. : )

Later,
Jen
-----
HerpCrazy Reptiles

The normal siblings are completely normal. They carry absolutely no pastel genes in them at all. The best way to think of pastels is as a het. for super pastel that you can actually see.

Jake

The semantics involved with python regius genetics in one of the things that really bugs me about this industry. Most of you would get laughed at in scientific circles because what you are saying is *technically* wrong! However, I understand what people mean, and in that you are correct

*TECHNICALLY SPEAKING*

The Pastel morph is really simply DOMINANT. The Super Pastel is a CO-DOMINANT morph. Co-dominance means that you need TWO dominant genes to achieve the trait.

The Pastel was the first proven PREMIUM Dominant morph. The first proven dominant trait, however, was the often-overlooked high-gold/yellow. The genetics of a normal ball python (wild type), of course, also qualify as a Dominant trait.

I could go on and on, but I think you guys get my drift here.

How the he!! can wild type be dominant when Pastel overrides it in the heterozygous form?

Quite simple...they are incompatible traits. The pastel gene overrides the same wild-type alleles. This does not make the wild-type gene recessive. Of course, for each trait for which we've found a morph, there is a "wild-type" or "normal" gene. When we say an animal is "normal", we assume that the genes affecting ALL characteristics are normal. There would be a separate "normal" gene for alleles related to melanin production (T- albinism, ghosts/hypos), tyrosinase (T /T- Albinism), as well as such things as pattern (although the extent to which genetics controls different pattern types is still debatable), size, body shape, we could probably go on and on for days.

I don't know if anyone has actually determined, yet, what the gene for a Pastel actually controls. I'm still relatively new to BP's, so if anyone knows of the pigmentation characterics of Pastels I'd appreciate some insight there.

As genetics is based mainly on theory (which is still very similar to Mendel's early works on the subject), it is impossible for anyone to be sure exactly how this all works. But these theories seem to hold up well under nearly all scrutiny that's been thrown at them. I've heard of a group of scientists who contend that there is no such thing as "recessive" genes, and that those traits we consider to be "simple recessive" are actually traits that are only observed in a co-dominant form. The question is purely academic, as the actual practice of breeding desirable traits would not be affected much, but it is interesting to ponder once in a while.

Did you know that the first time Greg Graziani bred his original male to a normal he got seven eggs and all 7 were pastels?

And now for the rest of the story....
The Pastel Jungle Story